48 Hours: The Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon - How an oil trail helped solve a murder

48 Hours revisits the Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon, who was found dead next to his BMW 5 sedan on a secluded street in Greenwood, South Carolina. The investigation reports revealed that the 46-year-old victim was about 50 feet away from his car when another vehicle violently struck him. His shirt and one shoe were found lying on the pavement.

McClendon's girlfriend Meredith Haynie was present there when the authorities arrived at the crime scene, but she said that she was not there when the collision happened. Authorities relied on multiple pieces of evidence to build a murder case against Haynie's soon-to-be ex-husband Bud Ackerman, who claimed the incident was purely an accident.

Prosecutors argued that the touch-screen computer inside Ackerman's Ford F-250 pickup truck showed clear proof that he had deliberately targeted McClendon that night and killed him on purpose.

Continue reading more about the hit-and-run homicide of Davis McClendon.

The Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon: Investigators solved the murder by tracing the oil trail

Haynie revealed to 48 Hours correspondent Anne Marie Green that she had been on a date with McClendon earlier that night, before McClendon disappeared from a local club at 12:51 a.m.

May 6, 2023

Haynie and McClendon were spending quality time at a restaurant called Break on the Lake.

May 7, 2023

The couple went to a party and later to a popular club named Key West. Inside the club, Haynie saw McClendon suddenly leaving through the back door and suspected that he was going to meet Ackerman. The person had criticized her and McClendon for being together before his divorce from her was finalized.

Outside the club, McClendon was hit and killed by Ackerman in a deliberate hit-and-run collision. After the hit-and-run incident, authorities arrived at the scene and began questioning Haynie about what had actually happened.

Haynie gave the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office access to her phone containing text messages that supported her account. The messages revealed that Ackerman called her several times, sent repeated messages, and continued that behavior throughout the night.

After collecting details from Haynie's account, investigators wanted to gather more details directly from Ackerman, and therefore they located him at his parents' house. After reaching there, they observed that the house was located about half a mile from the crash site and later found his pickup truck leaking oil in the driveway. When they attempted to question him, Ackerman directed them to speak with his attorney instead.

The Hit-and-Run Homicide of Davis McClendon revealed that the investigators mapped the truck's digital signals and combined them with other data from that night to reconstruct Ackerman's movements. The records revealed that he had driven past the Key West Club, Haynie's home, the Break on the Lake restaurant, and eventually McClendon’s street. The information also confirmed that Ackerman's truck was near the crash site at the time of the collision.

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